Zombies, Zombies - Everywhere!

I was recently asked, by DocStout, how many zombies I could put on the table before I ‘ran out’ and up until the point I answer his question I hadn’t actually bothered to count.

"They're coming to get you Barbara."

Make-Do-and-Mend

For my first batch of zombies for ATZ I adopted a classic gamer made-do-and-mend, using whatever I happened to have in my unfinished projects bitz-box. I had a couple of packs of Games Workshop Warhammer zombies from which I selected the least medieval looking and based on 25mm round bases. I used my 'normal' style of basing painted in an urban style.

Games Workshop Zombies - What big hands you have.

I also had set of Copplestone Plague Zombies, a couple of modern zombies which I think are from Ral Partha or Grenadier and one old GW metal zombie.

Copplestone Plague Zombies - Standing the test of time.

Ral Partha or Grenadier and Games Workshop Zombies

The first batch turned out ok and it was great to be able to crack on with a project without actually buying anything but at the same time I was, pun intended, chomping at the bit for some modern looking zombies.

Zombie Hunger

After trawling the interwebs and studying as many blogs with zombie miniatures in as I could, I settled on Studio Miniatures for my first batch of ‘real’ zed-heads. I ordered the Horde 1 pack because I couldn’t resist the exclusive George A. Romero model.

Studio Miniatures Zombies

What can I say? The sculpts are superb, they come in a cool retro video case with a very cool cover and they have the perfect balance of character and Every-day-Joe feel to them. My only criticism is that de-flashing is difficult. Not because there is lots of flash, on the contrary there is very little, it’s just the models are so highly detailed I was simply worried about ‘blurring’ out detail, such as flods in clothing, as went.

Inspired by the Studio Miniatures promotion pictures and by the superb work of Christopher (aka Axebreaker) and Gnotta I modelled Miliput bases and picked up some Army Painter 'tufts' to help with the look I was after.

Studio Miniatures Zombies - Dawn of The Dead (2004)?

Studio Miniatures Zombies - Roadkill!

Studio Miniatures Zombies - Flesh-munchingly good

How many zombies does one need?

In answer to Doc Stout’s original question, I have just 40 zombies. It doesn’t sound like much of a horde but believe me, once the flesh-chomping little blighters are on the table it’s more than enough. That said I’d like the collection to grow. My current target is 60 zombies and I haven’t yet painted the Mr Romero model - I want to give him a little one-on-one time. 60 zombies would seem to be about the right number of zombies for most zombie miniatures games, allowing for a little recycling here and there.

Seeing the release of Studio Miniatures' latest offering, Zombie Mob 008, reminded me how much I love their models and I’ll definitely be adding another one of their Hordes to the collection soon.

Studio Miniatures Zombie Horde 008 - "Need!"

Enough is Enough?

I have just one question...will 60 zombies be enough?

Standby, Standby. Go! Go! Go!

The first public appearance of Outbreak City took place this week. As always, an exciting and nervous event for a new project. We played All Things Zombie, the game went superbly well and the whole play-set was well received by the players and other club attendees alike. The battle report is now under construction so expect to see that soon.

In the run up to the game I was, like always, frantically trying to finish as much as possible and fighting the demons of ‘do without and do it properly another time’ and ‘just stay up late and get it finished’. For the most part the former prevailed but I did manage to get a reasonable amount of things out of the workspace and onto the table.

I finished the Hasslefree Hazmat Squad. They were a pleasure to paint. I was also forced to buy a new bright yellow and their tanks received a coat of clear gloss varnish to help them ‘pop’ a little more.



Hasslefree Hazmat Squad. Tip of the spear. Bio-threat style.

"Zulu Down!"

"Stack up."

"Why are there no grey gloves left?"

"100% bada$$ and I still have to wear orange gum boots."

Andy’s Gunworks had its sign fitted at last, although I still need to finish his roof access and add some white garden funiture, a pallet and a barbeque to keep him happy.

"So What's the Bad News?"

I finally finished painting my original four Hasslefree survivors. They were usable before but I wasn’t satisfied with their bases and needed a final pass and highlighting before I could call them done.



Hasslefree Survivors - Ray, Ken, Suzi and Lara

Having spent a little more time on these miniatures than I normally would, and having enjoyed every minute, I am keen to explore acrylic mediums to help with the blending (the paint was drying out quite quickly as I blended). I also want to expand my pallet of tools and colours to help make the most of the models.

With Easter not that far away I decided to add this little nod to Zombielarp. Bioflex is a multi-billion pound corporation that dedicates a considerable amount of its focus on bio-technology and military grade hardware. Worried? Justifiably so.

"Delivery for a Mr P. Anderson?"

Finally, on Saturday the 5^th March I attended Zombielarp: Evolution. The bad news is, the gun-cam footage was not captured. I’d like to blame a technical fault, but once the adrenaline-fuelled frenzy had subsided it was just as easy to point a finger at my own stupidity in the chaos of the moment. That aside, the good news is I captured enough footage during the night's proceedings to put this little ditty together.

My First Survivors

One of the many things that appealed to me with this project is that fact that I did not have to paint many, many, many, many, and did I say many, miniatures of the exact same pose to be able to play. Sure, there’s that horde of zombies, and who doesn’t aspire to amassing a fully painted horde the size of Vampifan’s? But from a survivor point of view, I knew that I could simply paint up just enough to get started and add to them whenever I felt like it.

I was instantly drawn to Hasslefree Minatures Survivors range. With dynamic poses, an assortment of armaments, a cheeky nod to movie tie-ins and a good mix of male and female characters it seemed difficult to go wrong, so I initially opted to order just four miniatures with different weapons to get the ball rolling.

My survivors of choice were Eve (My other half yelled ‘Oooh, get Lara’), Ray (Shaun), Suzi (You can see her knickers, why wouldn’t you?) and Ken (Kenneth from the 2004 DOTD remake anyone?)

The purchase went smoothly and hand-written note and the sweet made me smile, which was nice; it is good to know the personal touch is not lost, thank you Hasslefree.

I wanted to try a different basing technique and having seen the Tengu Models advice I decided to give milliput a try for the first time and attempt a paving slabs effect. Thank you also to Jim for the pointers. I was pleased with the results however I think I will add a little extra ‘detritus’ and mix elements of milliput, gravel and other scattered randomness to future bases as the project progresses.

Milliput 'flagstone' bases

I think the painting turned out ok however, although the models are playable they are not quite finished, requiring a little more highlighting before they finally get a coat of matt varnish.

Hasslefree Adventurers, almost finished. L-R: Eve, Ray, Ken and Suzi

Scale and Bases and Who's Who is Zed-land

Having decided to create my own little zombie apocalypse in miniature there were a few questions I needed to answer early on. Scale was the easiest decision, a short delve into a dozen boxes of unfinished projects revealed a pack of undercoated Copplestone Plague Zombies (purchased back when they were first released),  a Games Workshop Zombie horde and a few individual other miniatures I suspect might be Ral Partha, but I honestly have no idea. 28mm is my typical scale of choice and the majority of terrain resources for modern gaming seem to be in or around that scale, it seemed the simplest way forward.

Copplestone Y-Z

Basing was a little more complicated. Most of my miniatures are based to an earth brown, dry-brushed with flesh tone/light cream then flocked. This helps them fit onto either of the two gaming boards I generally play on; grassland and desert. Whilst the zombie apocalypse might happen anywhere, we all know that the big city is where it is really at.


Copplestone Plague Zombie

I decided on a standard 25mm round slotta-base, regardless of how the miniature came and a few painting sessions later the first batch of zombies was complete. I settled on a grey to light grey/white dry-brushing on a base of umber. The first batch turned out ok, but I wanted something a little more special for the survivors and it was clear that not only did the bases look a little too ‘rubbley’ the Copplestone miniatures also stood out and choosing manufacturers to add to the set whilst keeping some consistency with so many decent offerings was going to require some thought.

The first finished zombies